MONROE – Gray, thick clouds hung in the sky on Monday, letting soft rain descend onto the Tualco Valley south of Monroe.
The fertile farmland embraced the rain. At the Frohning farm, people hugged each other, sobbed and smiled.
They talked about a young man who loved this valley, loved this farm and dreamed about becoming a veterinarian.
The whole valley is crying, Tim and Sandra Frohning said. Their son Dan Frohning died in an accident Saturday evening while hunting with friends in the valley. He was 19.
“It’s hard to believe this happened,” Tim Frohning said Monday, sitting on a red tractor covered in mud.
Tim said his son was a “cow man,” who tended animals so well and so much that Dan once joked to his girlfriend that his wife was a cow.
Her son struggled in school, but was about to earn a high school diploma, Sandra Frohning said.
Several hours after the accident, the family’s roughly 300-acre farm was filled with people offering condolences. Among them was Nate Hettinga, a pastor at the family’s church, Cascade Community Church in Monroe.
The couple not only grieved, but also consoled a young man who accidentally shot their son, Hettinga said.
“They said, ‘I want you to know I love you and I forgive you. You are my son also,’ ” he said.
The young man broke down, he said.
“It’s one of the most painfully beautiful moments that I’ve ever witnessed,” Hettinga said.
Dan Frohning loved deer hunting, and Saturday was the first day of the season. After the accident, his friends gave him cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but could not save him. Sheriff’s detectives are reviewing the accident, which is normal in such situations.
The tragedy has hit the church hard. The congregation also mourned the loss of Dick Montgomery, who died in a head-on collision on U.S. 2 in January. The Monroe man and his wife fostered 13 children while also raising their four biological children.
The community has given the Frohning family strength to live on, said Tim Frohning, a fourth-generation farmer in the valley.
At 5 a.m. Sunday, 10 people showed up at the farm to help him milk cows, he said.
“I just cried,” he said. “I couldn’t believe what was happening.”
Neighbors and friends brought the family homemade dishes, including soup, macaroni and cheese, and roast beef. “You name it,” he said.
As the couple shared memories of their son Monday, cattle mooed and roosters crowed.
The dairy farm of about 170 cows has to move on, said Frohning, 50. He rose at 4:30 a.m. The morning was empty and painful. He used to wake up all of his four sons.
Longtime friends Trecia and Terry Johnson dropped by with their homemade barley soup in the afternoon.
Trecia Johnson kissed Tim Frohning’s cheek and hugged him.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
Around 2 p.m., a milk truck arrived. The driver stepped off and hugged Tim Frohning.
Above them, the dark clouds slowly drifted.
The date of a memorial service for Dan Frohning has yet to be set. In addition to his parents, he is survived by his brothers, Matt, 21, Timothy-Lee, 15, and Doug, 12.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
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